UNICEF and the Global Goals

UNICEF is committed to doing all it can to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in partnership with governments, civil society, business, academia and the United Nations family – and especially children and young people.

Nutrition

Resources

This tiny boy is one of the more than 30,000 children under two years old affected by severe acute malnutrition in Mauritania and admitted for treatment this year. Bringing a child back from severe acute malnutrition requires care and skill.

Stunting traps children in a vicious cycle of poverty and undernutrition. Yet, key interventions when delivered during a critical 1,000-day window – during the mother’s pregnancy and before a child turns 2 ‒ can lead to a reduced prevalence of stunting. This report showcases new developments in nutrition programmes and analyses progress towards reducing undernutrition. It also includes case studies from countries where nutrition has been improved at scale.

In September 2015, UNICEF, WHO and World Bank Group released updated joint child malnutrition estimates for the 1990 to 2014 period, which represent the most recent global and regional figures after adding 62 new surveys from 57 countries to the joint dataset. This key findings report summarizes the new numbers, main messages and identifies some minor changes in methodology.

This report provides an overview of the results achieved in Nutrition based on the first year of UNICEF’s 2014-2017 Strategic Plan. In 2014, UNICEF’s Nutrition Sector continued to be a leader in the scale-up of high-impact nutrition interventions, supporting countries in ensuring the equitable improvement of maternal, infant and child nutrition, with particular focus on the critical 1,000-day window covering a woman’s pregnancy through the first two years of a child’s life.

The Nutrition case for support lays out the global nutrition landscape, provides evidence-based solutions to prevent and reduce various forms of malnutrition and describes UNICEF’s role and approaches. It also highlight lessons learned, risks and mitigating measures and details the resources required to meet results and current funding gaps.

The Global Breastfeeding Collective calls on implementers and donors from governments, philanthropies, international organizations, and civil society to prioritize and adopt 7 key policy actions to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in 2016, UNICEF and WHO collected 13 country case studies about the BFHI, which document the country adaptations in implementation, achievements, challenges and lessons learned and recommendations for the global BFHI guidance. These country experiences are brought together in a Compendium of case studies report.

The advocacy brief provides key messages and facts highlighting the strong links between breastfeeding and early childhood development. It also contains a call to action by both the nutrition and ECD communities to advance a shared agenda to give children the healthiest start in life.

A new global report from UNICEF, From the First Hour of Life: Making the case for improved infant and young child feeding everywhere, provides a global status update on infant and young child feeding practices and puts forth recommendations for improving them. The report is divided into two parts: Part I focuses on breastfeeding and Part II looks at complementary feeding practices. Each part reviews the most recent evidence on infant and young child feeding practices and provides updated global and regional estimates and trends, where available, as well as disaggregated analyses.

The home fortification of complementary foods with micronutrient powders is an effective strategy to improve the quality of diets consumed by children and to treat and prevent anemia and other micronutrient deficiencies. This report compiled by the Home Fortification Technical Advisory Group and its partners summarizes program achievements to date and identifies future programmatic and research needs.

The home fortification of complementary foods with micronutrient powders is recommended where complementary foods do not provide enough essential nutrients. This guidance brief developed by the Home Fortification Technical Advisory Group provides programmatic guidance on how micronutrient powders can fill nutrient gaps of vulnerable groups, especially infants and young children.

Iodine deficiency is a common cause of preventable mental impairment worldwide. Over the last two decades, there has been remarkable progress towards eliminating iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) by increasing access to iodized salt. As the programming environment on IDD control and salt iodization changes, so do related monitoring needs. This report outlines priority areas for the monitoring of salt iodization programs and population iodine status.

High-dose vitamin A supplementation programs improve child survival in settings where under-5 mortality and vitamin A deficiency rates are high. This report details the current status of such programs globally and calls for continued investments to support this highly cost-effective intervention.

This document contains detailed programme guidance on breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and infant feeding in the context of HIV and emergencies. It may be used by a broad range of partners involved in IYCF programming.